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December 3, 2021

The Convert

In 2006, a new convert showed up at a mosque in Orange County, California. Known as Farouk al-Aziz, the convert was actually an FBI informant named Craig Monteilh. That informant’s infiltration of the mosque is at the heart of FBI v Fazaga, a case heard at the Supreme Court last month. We return to our episode from 2012, which tells the story behind it.

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Craig Monteilh, photo by Andy Templeton

This is an updated version of an episode from 2012.

Prologue

Prologue

At a Muslim community center in New York, two lawyers teach a workshop on how to react when an FBI agent shows up at the door asking questions. The workshop is a project of CLEAR — Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility — at the City University of New York School of Law. (9  minutes)

Act One

Gym Rat

In the summer of 2006, an FBI official visited a mosque in Orange County, California. His intention was to reassure the community that they weren't being spied on. But a few months later, an undercover informant named Craig Monteilh showed up at the mosque. Monteilh says he¹d been sent there to catch terrorists. But his behavior was so odd that Monteilh himself came under suspicion. Documentary filmmaker Sam Black reports the story. (25 minutes)

By

Sam Black
Act Two

Act Two

The story of Craig Monteilh continues: What happens when you turn someone into the FBI who, it turns out, is working for the FBI? Trevor Aaronson, whom Sam Black interviewed for this story, has a book called The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism. (21 minutes)

By

Sam Black

Song:

“Please Don¹t Follow Me” by James Murphy

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